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Manipulating Every American – Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell and their Acolytes

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. —James Madison, Speech in the Virginia State Convention of 1829-1830

Manipulating Every American – Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell and their Acolytes

Why did our American Founders work so hard to create a limited and defined government? To develop a small government with restricted powers? It's because they feared the gigantic power of government. Seeking personal freedom, our Founders sought to control government by dispersing power among many different entities and persons. The three branches of government – Executive, Congressional and Judiciary – are just one example of the many institutional controls intended to restrict the enormous power of government.

Presently, five elected leaders and their acolytes are making tax and spending decisions impacting every American. This is not freedom. Worse, this produces terrible policies by incompetent politicians.

The following are a list of tax increases our politicians are manipulating, according to The Wall Street Journal:

Income taxes:On Jan. 1, ...a new top rate of 39.6% and the elimination of the 10% lowest rate.

Other related tax provisions:Also expiring are a range of Bush- and Obama-era credits and breaks aimed at lower-income households, including expanded child tax credits. Higher-income taxpayers would pay more ... on deductions and exemptions return. Fixes for the so-called marriage penalty... expire.

Investment taxes: Taxes on capital gains would return ... including a top rate of 20%, and taxes on dividends would revert to taxpayers’ regular marginal income-tax rates.

Estate taxes:The top rate would rise from 35% to 55% and the tax would kick in at $1 million per individual, up from $5.12 million today.AMT: The IRS ... would...levy the alternative minimum tax on 30 million additional filers for 2012 income, including some making as little as $45,000 a year.

Payroll taxes:A two-year cut of two percentage points in the Social Security payroll-tax is set to expire ....

Unemployment insurance:Jobless benefits have been extended since the recession. But with federal programs set to expire at year’s end, more than 40% of the nearly five million Americans receiving unemployment insurance could lose their benefits.

Corporate tax breaks:..in need of renewal are a number of tax provisions, known as extenders, ... R&D tax credits and alternative-energy breaks.

These taxes and spending cuts are completely controlled by the President and Congress, and they are manipulating every American's use and enjoyment of their income – the product of their time, money and ingenuity. These are abuses of government power and infliction of coercive policies, and exactly what our Founders feared. As George Mason wrote in the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776:

That all Men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural Right…; among which are the Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursuing and obtaining Happiness and Safety.

Harmfully, for many years, predatory interest groups and complicit politicians have abused the power of government. Money is extracted from working Americans and is then distributed, by our politicians, to their favored special-interest groups. Obviously, some special-interest predators are more enhanced by the benefits bestowed upon them. Our excessive debt and the need for additional revenue to fund ObamaCare, our federal government must extract more taxes and determine what benefits and programs should be cut.

Thus, this weekend, America is waiting for a the political elites to rule. Do we have extended unemployment? Is there a marriage penalty? What is the tax rate on … uh, on almost everything? This is not freedom. This is dependency and subservience to the elected elite.

To restore freedom, much must be changed.

First, Americans must recognize the problem. Special-interest predators and complicit politicians will always seek to hijack and abuse the power of government.

Second, we need to prevent ourselves from being dependent on government, which doesn’t keep or honor its promises.

Fourth, we need to keep, spend, invest our own money. Each individual knows their needs and wants better than the likes of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell and their acolytes.

Yes, these are gigantic changes, but many countries are making big and beneficial changes – Sweden, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, Singapore, Poland, Chile and more - to help their countrymen live better lives. Freedom cannot thrive if government is controlled by only a few people and is arbitrarily confiscating and distributing the income of every American. Change must begin, NOW.

Don and Steve, This crisis is totally a result of the incompetence and corruption of our political elites – Republicans and Democrats. Yes, we need major reform. Our philosophical guide is for government to protect people and their rightfully obtained property. Instead of government confiscating the worker's property for their political advancement, government protects everyone from the force of others, especially the gigantic power of government.

Let us hope the "doc fix" expiration will lead to the implosion of single payer health care. In fact most of the items on the cliff list above are fine with me. 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is bad for a career. The 5% spending cuts a baby step. We need real reform and not a band-aid with more corrupt loopholes.

You can't trust government with money
Not rich people's money
Not poor people's money
Not right wing money
Not left wing money
A $16.4 TRILLION DEBT is PROOF that
YOU CAN'T TRUST GOVERNMENT WITH MONEY.

Regulation of alcohol in the United States uses a three-tiered system that perpetuates big business’s control on the alcohol industry and has helped maintain a cartel-like hold on the marketplace ever since the end of alcohol prohibition in 1933.

Sit up and take notice, Washington – the future of America’s entitlements is unfolding before you in the form of the Illinois pension crisis. Illinois’ five state-funded pension systems were almost $100 billion too small to meet promised pension obligations, potentially affecting state employees, “down-state” teachers (Chicago teachers have their own pension problems), state university employees and even General Assembly members.

Imagine, for a moment, a game show set. Wink Martindale is the host, because you need a pro to keep this thing on the rails. Contestants are picked at random from the studio audience to answer questions about the IRS, prepared by auditors and CPAs. Winners are awarded a tax rebate. Losers get the last 10 years of their income tax returns audited.

Hallie Kuperman loves to dance. But what she loves even more is sharing this passion with visitors to her social dancing club, the Century Ballroom.Hallie purchased the vintage dancing space 16 years ago, turning it into a Seattle institution. The Century Ballroom not only teaches swing, tango and the foxtrot, it also hosts cabarets and other live performances for an eclectic crowd of all ages. The club’s trendsetting owner has become a prominent and beloved figure in the community.

On February 5, the Congressional Budget Office released a report titled, "Macroeconomic Effects of Alternative Budgetary Paths". Full disclosure: even to us policy wonks, this report sounds a bit dry. Not exactly 50 Shades of Grey, if you know what I mean. But this report did contain some very interesting nuggets. Prepared at the request of the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Patty Murray, I'm certain that it came as a bit of a surprise.

The Senate Democratic Leadership offered a plan yesterday that would delay the sequester through January 2, 2014 (a ten-month postponement) and would “pay for” this delay of spending reductions with a set of new tax hikes and alternative spending trims.

Thousands of Americans are voting with their feet and heading to the Lone Star State. Despite a national economic slump, Texas boasts a rock solid economy and pro-active leadership committed to fostering a business friendly environment. And it's just this type of climate that's attracting the nation's best and brightest.

You never want to think that when economic trouble strikes, it's going to hit you. In fact, often times it doesn’t affect you directly because your business is not necessarily in the market segment currently under fire. This has been my family's experience for the majority of my life, at least until the last couple of years.

On Wednesday, The Hill reported that the Obama administration had begun to implement the individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare. Noting its unpopularity, rules have been written by the IRS and Department of Health and Human Services that "downplay the scope" of the mandate and emphasize the exemptions. As a curious blogger, I wanted to see for myself the fact sheet that was disseminated.